Possible overturning of Roe v. Wade sends abortion fight to states
The bombshell leak of a draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion nationwide has set the country on course for an even more polarized and fluctuating landscape of abortion rights.
Almost immediately, Republicans who had fostered a decades-long push to end abortion rights cheered Roe’s potential fall. Democrats vowed to fight the possible loss of a constitutional right that has been in place for nearly a half-century.
The Supreme Court confirmed the leaked draft, first published by Politico, was an authentic document but said Tuesday “it does not represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Though the draft opinion could change, Democrats and Republicans across the states pledged action amid warnings such a ruling could also put other rights at risk — battles that could likewise play out in the states.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said on Twitter she plans to immediately call a special legislative session “to save lives” if Roe is overturned. The state already has a so-called trigger law that would make abortion illegal if that happens and Noem’s office declined to say why a special session would be necessary. Her spokesman, Ian Fury, said the tweet, “speaks for itself.”
In Georgia, which is among several dozen states electing governors this year, candidates on both sides of the aisle proclaimed they would prioritize the issue if elected to the state’s top office.
Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue said he’d call state lawmakers into a special session to outlaw all abortions, while Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams said she would defend the right to abortion if she wins.
About half of U.S. states are expected to ban abortion if Roe falls, according to the abortion-rights think tank Guttmacher Institute. Twenty-two states, largely in the South and Midwest, already have total or near-total bans on the books. Aside from Texas, all are now blocked because of Roe.
States have already been preparing for the protentional of the ruling being weakened or overturned, and Republican-led states have also been working to restrict access to medication abortion, which would allow women to get abortions without the burden of traveling to clinics that may be few and far between.